Driving The ALCAN

The trip from Ohio to the Kenai Peninsula is about 4000 miles one way. We had one week in September to drive it.

For the most part I can honestly say the entire journey went smoothly with no surprises (but we did hit some bumps in the road - no pun intended). The most stressful part was crossing the border and dealing with customs. Second was estimating fuel stops in remote stretches of northern Canada and Alaska.

• Ohio: Boring as usual.
• Indiana: Boring.
• Illinois: Very boring.
• Wisconsin: Mildly pleasant to boring.
• Minnesota: It was getting dark and we did not see much of it.
• North Dakota: Flattest place I have ever been. You can almost see the curvature of the earth!
• Manitoba: Pretty flat, different money, fuel now priced in cents per liter.
• Saskatchewan: Big chunk of the Great Plains.
• Alberta: Also a big chunk of the Great Plains but with mountains in the west.
• British Columbia: Combo of hilly plains, mountains, and wilderness. Start of the ALCAN.
• Yukon Territory: Desolate. No man's land. Nice mountains. Rough roads.
• Alaska: God's Country. Kinda like Yukon but bigger, taller, icier, and more populated.

The Alaska-Canada Highway starts in Dawson Creek, British Columbia. The end is 1400 miles in Delta Junction, Alaska. This stretch of road is the most desolate and isolated stretch I had ever been on (some parts of Utah come in a close second).  And despite the name it is just a two lane road. Due to the constant maintenance needed from harsh winter and frost heaves, it is not even paved in some stretches.

List of animals we saw on the ALCAN:

• Elk
• Porcupine
• Black Bear
• Dall Sheep
• Mountain Goat
• Bison (actually an entire herd right in the road...)

Since we arrived in Tok, AK on schedule and had two days to spare, we made a little spontaneous trip further north and drove to the Arctic Circle, about 200 miles north of Fairbanks on the Dalton Highway. Not too often a little SUV from Ohio drives across an entire continent to the Arctic!

We then scrambled to get down to Kenai so my friend could fly back.

Let me just say that there is no reason to have tremendous fear about driving the ALCAN. It just takes some planning. Driving at night in the warmer months is not recommended because there are too many animals in the road. Manage your time, fuel stops, and fatigue wisely. Bring snacks because there are no food stops for long stretches. Bring tools and some spare parts (thermostat, fuel pump, relays, solenoids, serpentine belt, etc). Top off your fuel tank every chance you get, the next pump 100 to 200 miles down the road may be out of service or shut down for the season.

It is worth the drive. I wish we would have had more time to enjoy it. One could spend months exploring areas near the highway and beyond.

Alaska 2014 - Part 2

Most probably figured there would be another sequel to my experiences up north. To make a long story short, an interesting variety of situations and circumstances allowed the following to come together for Alaska 2014 - Part 2:

1. A place to stay for the winter
2. A job at a local airport
3. A different vehicle to survive the 4000 mile journey
4. A good friend to share that journey with
5. A certain level of insanity to actually do it

So what is one to do? Pack up some gear and drive north to Alaska before arctic winter strikes.

Intermission

I did not want to leave. That sums up how I felt when making arrangements to go back to Ohio. My purpose for being at MARC had been fulfilled. I could have stayed longer at more expense but there is always more work to be done no matter how long someone is there.

As hard as it was to leave new friends, experiences, and a place I consider my other home, it was best to stay with the plan and come back on schedule. About the only thing that went nearly exactly as I planned was getting there and leaving on the predetermined schedule. Everything else in between falls into place in ways we cannot always envision ahead of time.

God works in mysterious ways. We just have to trust Him, even if situations seem to go beyond our understanding. If we take a step back and look at the big picture, we will see that some strange things that happen are not coincidences; there is something else much deeper happening and we are only seeing the bubbles on the surface. That is how this trip went for me.

Sometimes when air traffic is busy we enter a holding pattern before being cleared for approach and landing. Figuratively speaking, I am in that holding pattern and "Air Traffic Control" is calling with an amended clearance.

To be continued...

Aircraft Maintenance - what really keeps them flying.

As the name suggest, one of the Missionary Aviation Repair Center's main functions is aircraft maintenance. Mandatory inspections, servicing, modifications, repairs, and lots of paperwork are just part of what is required to keep an aircraft flying.

MARC performs maintenance on many aircraft:
1. The MARC Fleet (2 Beechcraft King Airs, 1 Piper Navajo)
2. Aircraft operated by other missionary groups in the region
3. Personal aircraft in the area (revenue used to help offset MARC's operational costs)

Many of the pilots are also mechanics but usually there are not enough mechanics for the amount of work that could come in the hangar doors. More mechanics means more aircraft maintenance that MARC could take on and help offset the costs of their primary purpose: flying and maintaining missionary aircraft.

That is why they need more people. More staff would allow MARC and affiliated groups to further enhance air transportation logistics in support of the Christian Church and in effect God's Kingdom in remote road-less Alaska.

It has been a very rewarding experience being able to put my skills as an aviation maintenance technician to work for such a worthy cause and purpose.

King Air progressive inspection and servicing

Kodiak 100 hour inspection and servicing

Flat tire on a Cessna Caravan at a gravel airstrip in the boonies

Weighing a local aircraft on digital scales to compute weight and balance info

Fueling aircraft

My specialty: aircraft electronics and wiring

A day in the life of a Missionary Pilot in Alaska

Time flies when you are working hard and having some fun. And working up here can be fun. We have been so busy I have not had much time to keep track of everything going on. So while I may not be able to update here as often as I would like, I try to take pictures of the action as it is happening to share later.

A couple of times recently I have had the opportunity to ride along for the day with a MARC pilot to gain a better understanding of how they serve the remote areas of this land.

We start at 8:00 AM for a short time of devotion and prayer. This allows us to share with each other, connect with God, and focus on what we are working towards.

Shortly after, we preflight, retrieve and load the aircraft full of groceries, two push lawnmowers, and even large heavy pressurized propane tanks (that was kinda unnerving at first...).

The first day we were gone about 12 hours from base and made the following flights:

1. Groceries and propane tanks from Soldotna to Tanalian Bible Camp at Port Alsworth (1hr flight)
2. A load of Bible camp kids from Port Alsworth going home to Dillingham (1hr flight)
3. A load of new Bible camp kids from Dillingham to Port Alsworth (1hr flight)
4. Another load of Bible camp kids going home from Port Alsworth to Dillingham (1hr flight)
5. Another load of new Bible camp kids from Dillingham to Port Alsworth (1hr flight)
6. Another load of Bible camp kids going home from Port Alsworth to Dillingham (1hr flight)
7. Pick up some more new Bible camp kids in Manokotak going to Port Alsworth (1hr 15min)
8. Drop off our last load going to Tanalian Bible Camp in Port Alsworth and head home to Soldotna (1hr flight)

We got back to base in Soldotna around 10PM. Nine flights, hundreds of pounds of groceries, hundreds of pounds of propane tanks, two lawnmowers, and dozens of Bible camp kids.

That was just one day of the week. There are other flight crews with other aircraft flying similar missions in other parts of the state at the same time. Summer is busy up here.

A day in the life of...

...someone that works at an airport.

Many job descriptions sound pretty self-explanatory. Aircraft Mechanics. Flight Line Personnel. Aircraft Cargo Loaders. Parts Room Clerks. Flight Followers. Pilots. Secretaries. Grounds Maintainers.

But what usually happens in aviation is that people do many things outside their allocated job description. For many of us there is a wild card category called "Jack-of-all-trades." Such is the case here in Alaska.

Here are just a few things I did in my first week of volunteering at the Missionary Aviation Repair Center:

1. Facility Familiarization
2. Assist with yearly inspection, servicing, and repair of local bush aircraft
3. Load missionary aircraft with construction supplies headed to remote places
4. Prepare aircraft for departure
5. Clean windshields and condition de-ice boots for possible flight in bad weather
5. Fuel aircraft
6. Transfer fuel from ground tank to mobile fuel truck (2000 gallon truck, takes hours to fill)
7. Troubleshoot transient aircraft electrical problems
8. Cleaning up the hangars and machine shop when not doing the above
9. Run errands to another local airport
10. Aircraft Maintenance Paperwork
11. Unload inbound aircraft from the bush
12. And the list goes on and on...

Each morning to start the day people gather in the office for a short devotion and prayer time. It is a nice way to remind us why we are here working and keep things in perspective.

Everyone works together to get the job done, not matter what one's specialty skill set may be. The trick is to be flexible and willing. Besides, being a "Jack-of-all-trades" keeps things interesting vs. being stuck doing just one task. To be honest I prefer it.

The pilots often have long days. Although the King Airs they fly are pretty fast, it is not uncommon for them to be gone overnight. They sometimes zig-zag across the region hauling people and supplies before returning to base. Earlier this week one of the planes had a flight to Eastern Russia and back.

Today we celebrate our Independence. MARC was closed for the day so everyone could enjoy a three day weekend. For a day trip I drove out to the Kenai Mountains and hiked up the Skyline Trail. It tops out on a ridgeline traverse about 3000 feet above the valley below. Treeline around here is around 2000 feet so I very much enjoyed the alpine tundra scenery. There are some pictures of it on the 2014 photos page.

We have been busy up here to the point I forget to take more pictures. Stay tuned and I should have more coverage coming of the work being done with Missionary Aviation here in Alaska.

Welcome to the Kenai Peninsula

Arrived in the Soldotna area Friday morning at around 8:30AM local, or 12:30PM for you easterners.

 4 flights, two delayed departures over an hour late, two broken airplane lavatories, 7 minutes to make connecting flights through Chicago between different concourses at opposite ends of the terminal, thousands of miles covered, over 30 hours without significant sleep, and a dead truck battery. But I love it. I waited in Anchorage 6 hours for a 20 minute Era Alaska (of TV fame, they recently renamed to Ravn) flight across the water to Kenai. That short hop in the DeHavilland Dash 8 was the best flight of the entire journey. They even had fresh baked cookies!

It was neat to depart Portland Oregon in darkness and fly towards the land of the midnight sun. The further north we flew the brighter it got with a glimmer of twilight peaking over the horizon.

Alaska is much like I remember it: cool, cloudy, and rainy. But the weather can change quickly up here and the forecast is calling for high 60's / low 70's and partly sunny for the next couple of days. That is a heat wave for this part of the state this time of year. My last trip was nearly 3 weeks long and it rained at some point every day except one.

The college dorm room I am renting turned out to be a surprise: I have a private bathroom, small refrigerator, and a microwave! All I was expecting was closet with a bed and locking door. God knows just what we need when we need it.

Enjoy the pictures as they come. I have been busy getting settled in and will upload more when time allows.

 
Era / Ravn Alaska Anchorage to Kenai from Ryan Christman on Vimeo.